Supreme Court: Arab parties can run

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that two Arab parties should not be disqualified from national elections.

On Wednesday, the court overturned the decision of Israel’s Central Elections Committee to ban the Balad and United Arab List-Ta’al parties from the Feb. 10 elections.

The nine justices on the court’s panel decided unanimously in the case of the United Arab List-Ta’al party and by a majority for Balad, according to Ynet.

The elections panel had disqualified the parties based on petitions claiming that the parties do not recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland and call for armed conflict against Israel. A 500-page appeal was filed Monday.